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Most Recent Online Casino News
Are Casinos Good For Musicians?
The state AFL-CIO is supporting the creation of five
casinos in Monticello, New York. Casino gambling can bring with it
employment — potentially, employment for musicians. We asked our
members: do you support casino gambling? Of the 80 responses Allegro
received, 29 were generally against casinos and 51 were generally
supportive. Many answers were nuanced. What follows is a sample of
responses from members of AFM Local 802, the New York City musicians'
union:
As an Local 802 member working a fantastic union job at “Mama Mia!” in
Las Vegas, I think the casino industry can bring many, many jobs to
union musicians. We just began our third year here and we’re still going
strong. Even if you don’t gamble (which I don’t) you can count on those
casino audiences to pack the show every night and bring home your weekly
paycheck.
Michael Brennan
In the early 1980’s I had the opportunity to live in Las Vegas and play
a show there. The casinos still had live orchestras and the music
business was thriving. While I was living there the MGM Grand production
show went to tape and that was the beginning of the end for the
employment of live musicians in Vegas. If bringing casinos to New York
will help recreate the spirit of what Las Vegas was for musicians, and
there is a contract to insure the employment of live players, then I’m
all for it. If it’s just a matter of bringing gambling to New York and
live musicians will once again be replaced by pre-recorded music then,
not being a gambler, it makes no difference to me what happens.
Read the
entire article at:
ILCA Online
2005 Online Casino New
Archive
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